Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An agency or creation that slips from the control of and ultimately destroys its creator.
  • noun A monster having the appearance of a man.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A novel by Mary Shelley.
  • proper noun The creator of Frankenstein's monster in Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.
  • proper noun Frankenstein's monster itself.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the fictional Swiss scientist who was the protagonist in a gothic novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley; he created a monster from parts of corpses
  • noun the monster created by Frankenstein in a gothic novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (the creator's name is commonly used to refer to his creation)
  • noun an agency that escapes control and destroys its creator

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Frankenstein, the creator of the artificial monster in Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.]

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Examples

  • The older sister teases the younger, who becomes convinced that the monster in Frankenstein is a living spirit who can be contacted at night.

    Spirit of the Star Trek « We Don't Count Your Own Visits To Your Blog 2008

  • Culture often lends itself to misinterpretations, one of the more egregious examples in both literature and cinema being the association of the title Frankenstein not to the scientist from whom the name is drawn, but instead to the monster he creates.

    Frankenstein (1931) 2007

  • Culture often lends itself to misinterpretations, one of the more egregious examples in both literature and cinema being the association of the title Frankenstein not to the scientist from whom the name is drawn, but instead to the monster he creates.

    Archive 2007-01-01 2007

  • Animation in Frankenstein is everywhere, suggestive of a textual effect rather than of a single accomplishment of a mad scientist: Elizabeth is "lively and animated" (19); Victor is "animated" while animating his creature (30); the creature periodically receives supplemental

    _Frankenstein_'s Cinematic Dream 2003

  • By now, the name Frankenstein represents, in the popular imagination, an instantly recognizable myth.

    Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus Mary Shelley 2004

  • By now, the name Frankenstein represents, in the popular imagination, an instantly recognizable myth.

    Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus Mary Shelley 2004

  • By now, the name Frankenstein represents, in the popular imagination, an instantly recognizable myth.

    Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus Mary Shelley 2004

  • The word "Frankenstein" often conjures up images of a block-headed monster brought to life by a mad scientist.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed REVIEWED BY KELLEY ARMSTRONG 2011

  • Of the two romances which she produced during this period, "Frankenstein" is deservedly by far the more famous.

    Biography in the DNB 2010

  • The standard male quest, taken to a revealing extreme in Frankenstein, is to contain and distance that amorphous feminine Real by fabricating rationalized constructs and symbols that seem to contain it, or even transcend it, by way of distinctly male frames of reference (such as his male "demonstration" of fabricated life) through which we glimpse the deep and primordial Feminine only "through

    Hogle, Introduction, Frankenstein's Dream, Praxis Series, Romantic Circles 2003

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  • March 14, 2011